The rock and fashion icon is just a flash button away, and I'm careening between excitement, trepidation and full-on panic. Love is unpredictable, to say the least. What if she hates me? Makes fun of me? Hangs up when I ask a dumb question?

Love, of course, was the primal force behind Hole, the alt-rock band whose 1994 album "Live Through This" is considered a classic. She has earned praise for her acting, too (most notably in 1996's "The People vs. Larry Flynt"). But she often saw her talents overshadowed by a tumultuous marriage to the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, battles with drugs and her general lack of predictability. A 2010 Houston show at the House of Blues featured a reincarnated Hole with a quartet of male players, and Love was in fine form.

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Also, to my relief, she proved friendly, honest and reliably fiery during a recent, all-too-brief chat about new music, tired classics and the indignity of opening for a certain rap-metal band:

Q: Any specific memories of past shows in these parts?

A: I have one. In 2010, we opened - by that I mean we played at noon - for not only 30 Seconds to Mars but Limp Bizkit at the Pizza Hut Park (FC Dallas Stadium) in Dallas. That was bloody mortifying. It was hilarious. It was like 100 kind of Insane Clown Posse fans or something, with backward baseball caps, at noon. The reason for it was we had to catch a plane to London because we were playing four nights at the Brixton, which the Bizkit probably couldn't play one night at Brixton. But even so, I don't think we would have been that well-placed on that bill, anyway. And the idea that in 2010 I am opening again for Limp Bizkit - it's too much. It was really a low point that we laugh about all the time. We laughed all the way through it.

Q: You've purposely called this solo trek a "very little" tour.

A: It was purposeful, but it was also to have a single attached to it that I decided would be better-served to come out when the book (an autobiography) comes out at Christmas. We were recording all last night, and it's kind of growing past the single. It'll probably be, if not a large EP, it'll be an album. It's extraordinarily good, it's just that we can't play any of those new songs on tour. We're looking into, like, deep cuts of songs that I don't normally play. We played "Jennifer's Body" the other night. We played "Beautiful Son." We played "Mono" off "America's Sweetheart," that was like four good songs out of 12. We do covers, etc. We're playing songs that people want to hear, the hits or whatever. Because the venues are small, it's the real fans that are there. I'm probably not going to play those songs in bigger venues. It's kind of fun to go deep into the canon of stuff.

Q: Is there one song you never get tired of playing?

A: I never get tired of playing "Malibu." I do get tired of playing "Doll Parts" and don't always play it. But they're getting "Malibu." They're getting "Celebrity Skin." They're getting "Asking for It." They're getting "Violet." They'll be spoiled. They're getting "Miss World." Forget it. I don't want to play "Doll Parts," I'm not playing "Doll Parts." But I played it the other night. It depends on how good the audience is. If they're giving me a lot of energy, I'll put the extra energy into it. It's not a horrible song. It just bores me.

Q: What can you say about the impending new music?

A: The album's going to be called, I think, "Died Blonde." It's been really interesting collecting photographs of women who died blonde in their prime, from Lana Clarkson to Carolyn Bessette to Jayne Mansfield to Grace Kelly. It's sort of insane. I'm making art sort of using that. The music itself is really raw. It's got a bit of a Stooges touch to it. It's still got a pop touch, definitely. I'm all about the hooks. The first three songs that we have in the can are really fast and really aggressive and really messed up. The songs that we (just) did, one was kind of a Fleetwood Mac-y ballad, and it's just not that anymore. It's kind of a crazy Irish waltz, like a stoner-metal waltz. It's like Queens of the Stone Age meets the Pogues. The other one's got this really weird (Red Hot Chili) Peppers touch to it. The Peppers don't influence me at all, in any way, shape or form. I've only known them since high school. But we went on a bit of a (former Chili Peppers guitarist John) Frusciante kick in there. The song's called "California." I've been writing about the state for a long time, but I've never actually been so bold as to call a song just "California."

Q: What are a few must-haves on the road?

A: I have to have my room in my bus. I think that one of my favorite feelings in the whole wide world is sleeping in the back of the bus at it rocks through the country. Usually the back of the bus is kind of shared, but I'm kind of a diva, so I don't do the bunks, thank you. Basically, it just ends up that I'm such a pig that everyone just gives up on even thinking about it, and they use the front of the bus. I have to have my Kindle or I will go insane. And I have to know what I'm wearing that night. I really need a uniform. I can deviate from it, but as long as I'm secure that I know what I'm wearing, I'm fine.

Q: This has been referred to as the I'm Still Alive Tour - is that a fair perception?

A: As my daughter said to me the other day when I was telling her a story about GG Allin, "Wait - you hung out with GG Allin, and you're still alive?" I was 17. I've been through a lot, and I went through a lot before anybody knew who I was. I went to the doctor about two months ago. My liver panel came back above average. My lung panel came back above average. I smoke. A lot. The doctor said, "You're some sort of weird phenomenon."